In 1996, Marcia embarked on a road trip to visit her parents. She hasn't been seen since.

The following is an extract from Vanished: The true stories from families of Australian missing people, by Nicole Morris, available via Big Sky Publishing.

The disappearance of Marcia Ryan. 

A few days before she went missing, Marcia took a lodger into her home. Marcia had never previously done this, but she was only just scraping by financially, and decided it would be a wise move to bring in some extra cash. Marcia advertised for her lodger and her ad was answered by a young man who Marcia had never met before. He duly moved in. However, the experience was not a positive one for Marcia, who quickly became suspicious and annoyed with her new housemate.

"We think that tipped her over the edge," says brother Tony. "She got really stressed about it."

On 18 August, Marcia had also been calling her parents. Mrs Ryan told the Coroner's court that Marcia was "hyped up, having panic attacks, was paranoid and delusional". On Monday 19 August – the day Marcia went missing – she left work early, telling her aunt and uncle, who were also her employers, that she was not feeling well. Her uncle noted Marcia looked pale.

Watch: The top 5 true crime documentaries. Post continues after video.

After speaking with his mother, Tony rang Marcia at around 2 pm and spoke with her for a while. Their conversation worried Tony; Marcia started off seemingly rational, but she became more upset during the call. Marcia told Tony that the thing that disturbed her the most was finding some bones and feathers in the backyard, which to Marcia's mind meant the boarder was putting a hex on her.

Marcia's brother Mark arrived in Seaford in the afternoon. "We got Marcia to come back to my home," he says. "I tried to get her to sleep for a while. She finally dozed off on the couch, but it was really hard to get her to sleep, because she was worried the boarder was going to steal all her stuff. So, I drove her back to her place, and I managed to get her to sleep in her bed there, When she woke up, she was worse than what she was before – paranoid about the boarder and all his stuff being in the house. So, she picked it all up and put it out on the nature strip."

Marcia wanted the boarder to leave. He was not home when this happened, so Mark told his sister he would wait for the man to come home and explain to him what was happening, so Marcia wouldn't have to.

"Marcia was all keyed up," says Mark. "I had my car parked behind hers in the driveway, and she said, 'I've got to go!' I asked her where she was going, and she just said, 'I'm going!' She said she was going to drive to Queensland to see Mum and Dad. I said, no, you don't have to. I told her I'd deal with the boarder. She said she was heading north. She said to me, 'Move your car, or I'll ram it' I knew if she said she was going to ram it, she was. I backed my car out of the driveway, and she just took off.' She took nothing, only Ziggy the dog. 'She didn't take anything for herself, but she did take dog food. It was the only thing she put in the car,' says brother Paul. She was so determined to leave that she drove the car straight towards her brother, and Mark had to jump clear or be struck. She took off into the night.

Marcia with her dog, Ziggy. Image: Supplied.

By Wednesday, with no sign of Marcia in Queensland, the family began to get worried. By Friday night, Tony was worried enough to report her missing to police. "They said, 'Well, her car's been spotted in Moe and Morwell.' I went back to Marcia's house, and on her answering machine was a new message from a man. He said, 'Hi, Marcia, my car broke down. I pulled up on the side of the road and I found your wallet. My name is such-and-such, here's my number, if you want your wallet back give me a call.' Then the next message was from VicRoads saying, 'Marcia, your car's been on the side of the Princes Highway for the last four days; if you don't move it today, we're going to impound it.' It was then that I went, 'Oh. That's not good.'"

The realisation that no-one had actually seen Marcia since the night she went missing, that her car had been abandoned and her wallet had been found on the side of the road, was horrific to Tony. "I had a different vision in my head to what was going on as opposed to reality," says Tony. "I now had a problem. I've got Marcia's car on the side of the highway that has to be moved, I've got to pick up the wallet in Darnum... and I ain't got a sister," he says grimly. "I had no idea where she was."

This is an edited extract from Vanished: The true stories from families of Australian missing people, by Nicole Morris, is now available via Big Sky Publishing.

Image: Big Sky Publishing.

If you or someone you know is at risk of violence, contact: 1800 RESPECT.

Feature Image: Supplied.